Donnelly has been supplying fresh produce to retailers like Superquinn since 1979. Creative Inc have worked with the Donnelly family to transform the company into one of Ireland’s best known fruit & veg brands, with over 650 products in stores throughout the country. The new look harks back to the old world graphical elements synonymous with grocers of a bygone era.
Donnelly’s Fruit & Veg passion for sourcing fresh in season produce goes right back to when Anthony Donnelly started the business back in 1979. From the very beginning the Donnelly’s Fruit & Veg name has stood for quality and doing things differently. The business is a wholesaler to many of Ireland’s leading retailers e.g. Superquinn, Aldi etc. As a wholesaler, the brand was invisible to the public. “We have been supplying the retail trade for years, mainly into private label brands – what we need to do now is create a little bit of customer loyalty for ourselves”, says Ciaran Donnelly, MD. The company diversified over the years, creating a range of roast products and salads and introduced a new consumer brand called Wonderfoods. Today, its prepared veg division has 650 product lines.
Following a number of presentations from Irish and UK agencies organised by Bord Bia to Donnelly, Creative Inc was selected as the preferred creative partner. The project initially involved research (competitive, company and product analysis etc.) and senior stakeholder interviews. The conversation quickly moved to whether we could create one strong brand, under which all product offerings could sit and to turn this brand in a recognised consumer offering. The decision was made to rename the company Donnelly, cease the Wonderfood’s brand, put everything under Donnelly and to turn it into one of the most recognised consumer brands in the fresh produce sector. Creating a new consumer offering would allow the company to develop a new channel to market, expand it’s product offering to the public, build equity and protect margins.
The next stage involved a conceptual and collaborative approach to creating the new Donnelly identity.
“When working on the Donnelly Food brand we looked to traditional butchers and grocers and the old world graphical elements synonymous with a bygone era. Typefaces which encapsulated old-school craftsmanship, stripey multi-coloured awnings and brown paper bags all contributed to our vision of how the Donnelly brand should look, feel and behave,” says Mel O’Rourke, Creative Director.
“We initially created the key brand elements such as the mark and quality stamp and over time, brought in secondary devices which helps to conjure up this old world charm in a contemporary context and keep it fresh. Donnelly is all about fresh, quality, seasonal produce and traditional values and we hope that the new brand image is an accurate reflection of a company which has stayed true to what it believes in.”
The new brand was launched at The 2011 Catex Exhibition and Bloom 2011, Ireland’s largest gardening, food and family event. In a very short time, Donnelly has become a very recognised foodie brand on the retail shelves of Ireland, helping the company to diversify and grow its business through retailers like Spar, Aldi, Superquinn etc. Turnover at Donnelly has grown from €75M in 2010 to €78M in 2011 in what has been a challenging environment.